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. 2023 Dec 14;18(12):e0289654.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289654. eCollection 2023.

Penumbral thoughts: Contents of consciousness upon waking

Virginia Fedrigo  1 , Matteo M Galizzi  1 , Rob Jenkins  2 , Jet G Sanders  1
Affiliations

Penumbral thoughts: Contents of consciousness upon waking

Virginia Fedrigo et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Thoughts shape our experience, choice, and behaviour throughout the day. Yet the content of 'penumbral thoughts'-first thoughts upon waking-has received very little research attention. Across seven independent samples (total N = 829), we used recall and reflection methods, solicited the same day, to understand what individuals think as they regain consciousness. These penumbral thoughts show remarkable thematic consistency: individuals were most likely to reflect on their somatic or psychological state, focus on temporal orientation, and prioritise waking actions. Survey results demonstrate that temporal and spatial orientation are dominated by the current time and the day ahead, rather than the past or other future timescales. Our results provide some insight into the order of priority in consciousness. We conclude that establishing one's temporal position is important to the daily process of 'rebooting' conscious awareness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Counts of codes based on free response statements to the question “What did you think about when you first woke up?” by demographic groups (age and gender) and by days of the week.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Raw counts of observer ratings of free response statements to the question “what did you think about when you first woke up?” based on four dimensions: Temporal orientation, the protagonist, valence, and sentence formulation, by demographic groups (age and gender) and by days of the week.
Fig 3
Fig 3
How often participants (A) know or want to establish the spatial (place) or two temporal (day and time) dimensions and (B) have thoughts about the week, day, or year ahead or behind, across seven independent samples (one for each weekday), when they first wake up. Error bars display 95% confidence intervals.
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Grants and funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (MD19\190023) to RJ (https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk), from a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (RF-2020-448\10) to RJ (https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk), and from the Research Infrastructure and Investment Fund (RIIF) from the (University Department) to MMG and JGS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.